Egyptian, Syrian Presidents to Meet Monday in Cairo

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Syrian president Hafez Assad will meet in Cairo Monday for talks on the peace process. Assad and Mubarak were e

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Syrian president Hafez Assad will meet in Cairo Monday for talks on the peace process.

Assad and Mubarak were expected to discuss the Arab-Israeli peace process and Israel's latest air raids on Lebanon, said BBC Monday.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria met in the Syrian Desert city of Tadmur Thursday when Damascus backed for the first time a strong UN role in southern Lebanon following Israel's scheduled withdrawal by July.

Syria's support for the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was seen as likely to ease fears of continued violence in the area after July, said AFP Monday.

The pullout is a major cause of concern for Damascus, which suspects Israel wants to use it to draw a new line under the peace process, without returning the Golan Heights.

Damascus is insisting on a total withdrawal by Israel both from southern Lebanon and its own occupied Golan Heights which were occupied from Syria in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war - (Several Sources)